In telecommunication systems, signals are transmitted over cables having a plug assembly at one end connected to a complementary mating connector. Such connections are often made in areas of trunking or patch panels, where space is extremely limited. The areas in which these connections are made have numerous wires or cables, electrical components and other electrical equipment that make inserting the plug assemblies into receiving jack assemblies difficult. Removal of the plug assemblies is also difficult due to the numerous wires, electrical components and other equipment that interfere with accessing the plug and removing the plug from the receiving jack assembly and through the associated wires, and electrical components and equipment.
One problem with existing telecommunications plug assemblies is that the plug latch tends to catch or snag other electrical wires, electrical components or other miscellaneous electrical equipment during the drawback of the plug assembly. The limited space within which all the wires, components and equipment must be installed creates a tight area through which the plug assembly must be drawn. Frequently, a plug latch with catch, engage or otherwise snag on an existing wire, component or other equipment in the area. If the snagged plug latch is continuously pulled in an attempt to free the plug assembly the latch can break, thereby ruining the plug assembly. A need exists for a telecommunications plug assembly that prevents snagging the plug latch upon removal and for protecting the plug latch.
Another problem with existing telecommunications plug assemblies is that it is difficult to access the plug latch to disengage the plug assembly from the complementary jack assembly. The numerous electrical wires, electrical components and other electrical equipment make it difficult to access and depress the latch to remove the plug assembly. Some existing telecommunications plug assemblies have snagless features that increase the difficulty of accessing and depressing the latch to remove the plug assembly. Therefore, a need exists for a snagless telecommunications plug assembly that does not increase the difficulty of accessing and depressing the plug latch.
Existing snagless telecommunications plugs are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,875 to Clarke et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,457 to Kunz; U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,474 to Lampert et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,685,731 to Lin. Each of these patents discloses plug assemblies in which the latch beam is disposed between two ears that extend above the latch beam. The latch beam being positioned between two higher ears makes it difficult for the user's finger to get between the two ears to depress the plug latch sufficiently to disengage the plug assembly from the receiving jack assembly. Thus, the ears increase the difficulty of accessing and depressing the latch beam.
A need exists for a snagless telecommunications connector assembly.